WordPress or Website Builders?

WordPress is one of the most flexible content management systems (CMS) out there. Its competitors in the CMS category include Joomla and Drupal, which don’t even come close to WordPress in terms of their available plugins or the size of their userbase. But WordPress has a fairly steep learning curve, and lends itself towards being used by experienced website developers who can hard code in Javascript, CSS, and HTML. Website builders, on the other hand, are less powerful, but incredibly easy to use.

So, the answer to the question ‘Should I build my website on WordPress or with a website builder?’ can have many different answers depending on your skillset, desired outcomes, time, and money.

Ease of Use for Beginners

Good website builders are a breeze, and use simple drag and drop platforms where you can see how you are editing your website. You don’t need to know any code, and it’s roughly as difficult as playing a simple app game, writing text, and uploading photos. Even children can use a good website builder, and most adults can finish a website in an hour or two.

WordPress doesn’t have a visual interface, and has back-end text editors which approximate what you enter into the theme you use. There are limits to what you can do, where you can move objects, and what colors or patterns display… unless you know CSS and html.

Flexibility for Users

WordPress is flexible because it can do anything and is a scalable option: it can support anything from a personal blog to a massive major website with thousands of pages. You can download the database of every page and post you create to save, to use later… or simply to move, if you like. If you can dream up an idea, WordPress can usually handle it.

Website builders are less flexible, and don’t tend to scale up well: usually, the less pages you have, the more ideal your website is for a website builder. And most small websites don’t need all the flexibility options that WordPress provides.

Comparing Themes and Plugins

WordPress has a user base that’s millions-strong, and since it’s an open source platform, many of these users all contribute their own themes and plugins to create beautiful sites or interesting elements. Thanks to this, WordPress has thousands of options to choose from.

Website builders often have far less options… but because they’re all coded by paid developers, they’re often easier to use, and don’t come with any hidden issues later down the road. So, sometimes it can be worth it to opt for a website builder just for the quality control.

Comparing Costs

Another important consideration is, of course, cost. With WordPress, you’ll be paying for hosting (often at least $5-8 a month), and sometimes additional on top of that for a premium theme ($50-100). You may wind up paying even more if you’d also like premium plugins.

Website builders, on the other hand, often have free versions, or charge a simple monthly fee ($5-$8) which bundles hosting, themes, and plugins all together.

In Conclusion

So, what are you looking for out of your experience? A Website Builder free website could easly be an amazing bargain for a beginner web designer who doesn’t have any coding experience, while someone who has specific wants and has a little experience may far prefer the control and flexibility offered by WordPress.

In the end, you should be honest with yourself about your skills: and opt for a website builder if you don’t have enough know-how to navigate database installation on a shared hosting plan to put your WordPress framework on. On the other hand, if you’re crunched for time, just need a small website which looks relatively basic, or want a service to handle the most complicated elements for you, a website builder can be ideal!